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Prescot Football Club was formed in 1884 by a group of young men who wanted to play football and who were allowed to play on a field belonging to the, then 30 years old, Prescot Cricket Club. In November 1884, the first organised game of Association Football ever played in Prescot took place against the second team of a local St Helens side, St Thomas. Prescot lost 3-1. After playing friendly games for the first five years of its existence, Prescot entered the Liverpool & District League in 1889. During that season they encountered teams from St Helens and Bootle for the first time. For each of its six seasons in the league, Prescot were in contention at the top of the league but third place, in 1891-92, was their highest finishing position.

Prescot entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1891-92. A home game against Crewe Alexandra attracted 3,000 spectators to the 'Slacky Brow' ground. Prescot were beaten 7-1 that day.

Prescot were elected to the Lancashire Alliance in 1895 and were Alliance champions in 1899-1900. The following year they finished bottom but undeterred Prescot joined the higher standard Lancashire League for 1901-02. A ground dispute with the cricket club started in July 1902 and resulted in the football club being unable to fulfil its fixtures during the 1902-03 season. Without a ground or facilities the football club could not continue and the 18 year life of the original Prescot F.C. came to an end.

In 1906 the ground at Hope Street was opened to provide athletic and football facilities and a new football club, known as Prescot Athletic, was formed. Prescot Athletic began life in the St Helens & District League and won the championship in the first year, after which they transferred to the Liverpool League, where they stayed for four seasons. The Prescot club joined their sixth league, the Liverpool County Combination in 1911-12. Leagues were suspended in 1914 for the Great War.

The armistice in 1918 brought the speedy return of the non-league scene and the post-war Prescot club dropped 'Athletic' from their name and joined the Lancashire Combination Liverpool Section. In their first season, 1918-19 Prescot finished runners-up to Tranmere Rovers but did not fare too well the following season. For a number of reasons, including travelling difficulties and costs, the team returned to the more locally-based Liverpool County Combination for the 1920-21 season and spent a further seven years in that league.

In 1928, the local expanding cable giants, BICC, took an active interest in the club and donated a magnificent 1,000-seater stand (which was destroyed by fire in 1960). In what was clearly an early form of commercial sponsorship, the club's name was changed to Prescot Cables and the team colours became black and amber to commemorate a bit of local industrial history, as the first successful insulated cable drawn at Prescot was covered with black and amber paper.

1928-29 saw Prescot Cables playing in the Lancashire Combination and, in 1929, Prescot Cables made a bold attempt to join the Football League Third Division (North), along with four other hopefuls. All the applicants failed, although one, Mansfield Town, was successful two years later.

Prescot's association with the Lancashire Combination was to last for almost 50 years, although a brief spell was spent in the Cheshire County League during the 1930's. Prescot's only league championship was achieved in 1956-57, although they were runners-up in 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1952-53, 1957-58 and 1958-59.

Prescot Cables changed their name to Prescot Town in 1964. The name change did not result in better fortunes for the club and in 1975, the club was voted out of the Lancashire Combination. Prescot Town joined the Mid-Cheshire League and won it at the first attempt. In 1978/79 they returned to the Cheshire County League, in Division Two, after an absence of 42 years. Prescot were Division Two champions the following season, with Accrington Stanley as runners-up.

In 1980, the name of Prescot Cables was re-taken and in 1982, following a major re-organisation of non-league football, Cables became a member of the newly formed North West Counties League where they remained for 20 years.

Prescot finished in the top 10 in NWCL Division One in all but one of the last 13 seasons. In 2001/02, the club had its most successful season for over two decades, winning the Worthington Challenge Trophy (NWCFL League Cup) and finishing as Division One runners-up, narrowly missing out on promotion to the UniBond League Division One.

Prescot went one better in 2002-03 to finish as champions of the North West Counties League Division One and win promotion to the UniBond League Division One. To ensure that Prescot could take their place in the higher league, ground improvements have been carried out at Valerie Park (formerly known as Hope Street) to meet the required ground standard.

Season 2004-05 saw Prescot playing at the highest level in their history: the Unibond Premier Division. The club qualified for a play-off position and only narrowly missed out on a third successive promotion. At the end of the season Tommy Lawson, the most successful manager in the club's history to date, left to see if he could emulate the success he achieved here with another club. His assistant Andy Gray took over as manager.